God, she truly was going to die. Whose brilliant idea had it been, to go hunting a legendary beast in a cursed forest, by the light of a few meager torches and a three-quarters moon?

Gee, I don't know, Ms Dare. Why don't you tell me?

Cecily Hale, our extraordinary heroine-turned-hunter, is in love with Luke Trent, but the man returned from the War a changed man. He's now a weenie-king, saying cutting things to push her away even as he perversely keeps going back to her because he can't stand seeing her being indifferent to him. I suspect that there must be a small piece of sharpnel or something stuck in his head. So, Cecily, heartbroken, joins a band of intrepid fools to look for a werestag in the nearby woods, as you can see from the short excerpt I've provided, and... uh... er... good lord, what have I done to deserve this?